James Hebert

Writer

James Hebert is the U-T's theater critic, and has covered the San Diego arts scene for more than two decades. He earned his master's degree at Columbia University in New York and worked as a magazine editor in Boston before joining the U-T. Hebert's awards include a national arts-writing prize from the Society for Features Journalism (for a profile of the choreographer Twyla Tharp), and some two dozen local and regional journalism honors; his work also has been republished in two college writing textbooks. In 2009, Hebert served as a juror for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

Recent Articles

Talk about a tough act to follow: The Andrew Lloyd Webber-composed musical “Love Never Dies” is the sequel to what’s only the longest-running show in all of Broadway history. That would be Lloyd Webber’s own “The Phantom of the Opera,” the juggernaut that reached its 30th Broadway anniversary in...

Jaclyn Backhaus’ playfully titled “Men on Boats” re-creates — or, more accurately, reimagines — John Wesley Powell’s daring 1800s Grand Canyon expedition, with one little departure from history: None of the actors in the play are actually men. The gender twist is part and parcel of the piece, which...

It’s not easy sharing a stage with Phil Johnson, at least if you’re a phone. In “A Jewish Joke,” the actor and playwright manhandles and hollers at and clobbers an old rotary-dial number to within an inch of its charmingly vintage-y life. But if the poor phone gets seriously rung up over the course...

For the characters at its center, “American Mariachi” is a story of people defying bias and cultural expectations in pursuit of a dream. For the five women portraying those characters, it has been in part a story of defying odds as to just how quickly one can learn a musical instrument well enough...

“Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery,” Ken Ludwig’s bonkers comic adaptation of a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle detective classic, premiered at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre in 2015. Now the piece about the famous sleuth’s pursuit of a phantom pooch returns to town in a new production at Scripps Ranch...

Taking the Bard behind bars has proved a powerful experience for the people behind the national Shakespeare in Prisons Conference, whose third edition lands at the Old Globe Theatre next week in its first-ever West Coast visit. And the conference dovetails well with the Globe’s own, rapidly expanding...

The New York and national critics have weighed in on the Broadway premiere of “Escape to Margaritaville,” the party-minded, La Jolla Playhouse-launched musical built around the songs of Jimmy Buffett. And some of those reviews are gonna leave a hangover. Jesse Green opens his New York Times review...

As San Diego Rep rolls out its world-premiere show “Beachtown,” it also has announced its 2018-19 season, the downtown company’s 43rd. Here’s what’s on the way: “Fun Home,” Sept. 6-30: The Tony Award-winning musical based on Alison Bechdel’s coming-out memoir makes its long-awaited San Diego debut,...